DURING the First World War, soldiers from all sides were courageous unto death.
Britain did win. But, as Ian Bell asks, is this sufficient to glorify war ("Why must the long dead be called up to fight for Union?", The Herald, February 1)? The trouble with David Cameron awarding £50m to mark the war and win votes, and with the likes of Jeremy Paxton and Dan Snow defending the war on TV, and Michael Gove going hysterical, is that they tend to ignore the effect on the deprived parts of Britain.
They should read Sylvia Pankhurst's account of daily life in east London where war meant the departure of husbands and nigh-on starvation for their families. Then they should consider post-war Britain, where politicians and top brass officers received fortunes while children without fathers were rewarded with poverty and many returning soldiers with unemployment.
As the cautious historian Richard Holmes states in his study Tommy, The British Soldier on the Western Front, 2005, "let us never forget that generation" who gave their lives. But he concluded: "The First World War could have been averted by more astute diplomacy".
Bob Holman,
76 Balgonie Road,
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article